


Hope And The Odds Make Poor Bedfellows

by Regionalpancake



Category: Star Trek: Picard
Genre: Apologies, Fix-It, Gen, Light Angst, Male-Female Friendship, Mentor/Protégé
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:35:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23600170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Regionalpancake/pseuds/Regionalpancake
Summary: Raffi turns to her old C.O, Jean-Luc Picard, for advice on pursuing a relationship with Seven.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Raffi Musiker & Jean-Luc Picard, Raffi Musiker/Seven of Nine
Comments: 13
Kudos: 59





	Hope And The Odds Make Poor Bedfellows

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write something as an to answer Picard's pretty terrible treatment of Raffi over the years, so there's an element of fix-it to this - a small part of the apology Raffi deserved from Picard!

“I just don’t know, JL,” Raffi pondered. She leant across the beautiful heirloom desk in the holographic chateau pouring them each another glass of wine. “Its been... a while. I don’t know if I remember the last date I went on.”

“Surely it’s about time then?” Picard said wryly, watching as the deep red liquid fill his glass.

“What exactly are you insinuating there?” Raffi looked up sharply.

”Nothing, nothing!”Picard laughed warmly and held up his hands. “However, it does seem to me that you have a choice here, Raffi;”Picard picked up his glass. “Either let things remain as they are familiar but unhappy . . .”

“Hey!” Raffi cut him off.

“Correct me if I’m mistaken, please.”

She shrugged, conceding the point.

“…Or you could see where this new path with Seven can take you.”

Raffi scowled frustrated. “I’ve had two great loves in my life JL, both of them... unmitigated disasters.”

Picard eyed her, clearly mulling over how to phrase what he wanted to say next, “All I’m saying,”

 _There it is_ she thought, she’d known him too long to be surprised, _here comes the speech._

“All I’m saying is that you need to follow the path that is right for you, as you see it. If that leads you toward Seven, then so be it.” Picard folded his hands gently together at his desk, looking for a second, like the Captain she remembered. “You’ve been alone for too long, Raffi. I wasn’t there for you when you needed me.”

The admiral ruefully shook his head “But I can be here for you now.”

“True, Seven is a liability; prone to dramatic and dangerous statements of personal justice. But she also, in my humble opinion, one of the better people I have had the pleasure to serve with. She does what is right and in the universe, as it is now, people with that compulsion are in, sadly, short supply.”

The admiral, knees protesting, eased himself out of his chair “She also seems to care for you very deeply. You could do much worse,” he mused then took a pointed sip of his wine. “You have.”

“Thanks…”

“Am I wrong?”

Raffi looked down at her reflection in her glass. “What are the odds of it working out though?” Her breath made the reflection waver. “Neither of us are exactly fresh faced and she might be just about as messed up as I am.”

“I can’t tell you about the odds, but Raffi, when did that ever stop you before? The Raffi I remember went after what she wanted with every resource to her name. With a back up plan for her back up plan!”

“Sure but that was business! This is . . .not.” Raffi’s voice trailed off.

“What’s the difference? Raffi Musiker gets what she sets out for. To hell with whoever tries to get in the way.”

“I don’t remember you being such a hopeless romantic back in the day?”

“Age has taught me a few things, Raffi. My knees don’t work as well as they used to, 90 years is not nearly as long as it sounds, and when you see a relationship that you think is right,” his voice dropping in timbre, that old, familiar captains authority rounding the edges of his words “ _you follow it_. Go for it with all your heart.” He concluded.

Picard walked over to the window, watching the holographic harvesters make their way along the worn paths between the sun drenched vines.

“Some of my only regrets, Raffi, are that I pushed others away. When I look at Will and Deanna now, and see what they created together, the rich wealth of life and happiness in which they live...” he trailed off “I realise only too bitterly, what I failed to build for myself.”

“JL...”

“I think, in all honestly it's too late for me.” his gaze dropped from the window “Don’t wait until it's too late for you.”

Picard’s eyes darkened and he made his way to lean against the edge of the desk, close to Raffi.

“And if, like myself at your age, you think you don’t deserve a happy life. Then take it from someone who wishes they’d had this same advice all those years ago.”

“I haven’t,” he paused “I haven’t always done right by you, old friend.” Jean-Luc met her gaze, his lined face heavy with emotion “And for that I’ll always bear a bitter regret. But at least, in this, I can try and give you some guidance and maybe the kick up the arse you need to put yourself first, for once.”

The ghost of a smile crossed his lips.

“I used to be your captain. And, before I decided put my own sense self importance before those under my command, I also used to be your friend.”

“JL...”

“Maybe I can earn back the right to the second one someday; I hope I can. But for now, I’m just an old man with a complicated life and some very simple advice. Do what feels right. You were always so good at that.”

Raffi’s chest tightened,wordlessly resting a hand on his arm.

“Ok,” Raffi nodded, feeling a creeping excitement in her chest of a decision made, she pulled herself to her feet “Ok. you’ve convinced me. I’ll go see if Seven’s offer still stands.”

She paused a moment before wrapping her arms around her mentor, tucking her face into his neck and waiting until a familiar embrace answered her own.

“Thanks for the drink, JL,” she broke away “and the advice.”

Picard watched Raffi walk away toward the holodeck door.

“Lieutenant Commander?"

She turned round instinctively at her old rank,

“You deserve a little happiness for once.” Picard said with a smile, “Make it so.”


End file.
